Farmworker Groups Challenge H-2A Wage Rule in Federal Court

A coalition of 18 farmworkers, the United Farm Workers, and the UFW Foundation has filed suit against the Trump administration over a new federal rule that would significantly reduce hourly pay for both domestic and H-2A agricultural workers.

The lawsuit, filed November 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, argues that the Department of Labor’s revised Adverse Effect Wage Rate methodology unlawfully slashes wages and could shift hiring incentives away from U.S. workers.

The rule, unveiled October 2 as an interim final rule without public comment, restructures how H-2A minimum wages are calculated. According to the administration’s own estimates, the change lowers wages by $5 to $7 per hour and results in an annual transfer of $2.46 billion from workers to employers. The plaintiffs say these reductions will depress wages not only for guestworkers but also for U.S. citizens working alongside H-2A crews, something federal law is meant to prevent.

UFW President Teresa Romero argued that the cuts undermine American labor, saying, “There is nothing ‘America First’ about expanding exploitative guest worker programs that undercut and displace American workers.” She added, “President Trump’s wage cuts serve only one purpose: they make it easier for big agricultural corporations to exploit cheap foreign labor through the H-2A program and replace American farm workers, or avoid paying them a fair market wage.”

Individual farmworkers who joined the lawsuit described the rule as a direct threat to their ability to cover essentials such as rent, food, transportation, and medical costs.

Isabel Panfilo, a strawberry harvester in Ventura County who is also a college student, said, “The work that farm workers do everyday is extremely difficult and deserves a lot more respect than it gets.” She explained that even minor reductions in wages could force her to take a second job or make it impossible to keep up with school and family obligations.

The complaint also highlights concerns with the rule’s new two-tier job classification system and a “housing deduction” that can reduce wages by as much as 30 percent. Plaintiffs argue that this structure allows employers to pay less than market rates and could push employers to recruit more guestworkers instead of U.S. workers — a shift that many domestic labor advocates fear will erode wages across rural communities.

Farmworker advocates have beaten similar policies before. A nearly identical wage-cut proposal from the first Trump administration was blocked in 2020 after a federal court found that it would unlawfully depress U.S. workers’ earnings. This new lawsuit seeks to reverse the current rule, restore prior wage protections, and compel the Labor Department to create a new methodology that complies with federal law.

The case arrives at a moment of intense pressure in the labor market. H-2A hiring has surged to nearly 400,000 positions in 2024, and farmers continue to face chronic labor shortages and rising production costs. While many growers argue that current AEWR wage levels have grown too quickly for farm margins to absorb, the plaintiffs contend that slashing pay is not a lawful solution, and that doing so without public input violates long-standing administrative procedure.